


Fireflies

by thepotatoherself



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-04
Updated: 2020-02-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:00:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22551376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thepotatoherself/pseuds/thepotatoherself
Summary: summer camp romance :)
Relationships: myself and a cute guy from summer camp





	Fireflies

**Author's Note:**

> Another what-if from this other guy from summer camp. (warning: I wrote this originally several years ago, so unfortunately there is a bee movie joke. Im sorry.) enjoy <3

“Do you see him?” Lacey asks, craning her neck to look over at the boy’s side of the cafeteria.  
“Nowhere to be found,” I say, trying to subtly lean back in my chair to get a different angle. (It's not at all subtle.)  
“Why are you guys looking at the boys?” Nyla narrows her eyes at us, speaking in her all-knowing voice.   
“Don’t worry about it.” I return my attention to the chicken patty in front of me, which is honestly way better than any mysterious boy.  
Lacey seems to disagree with my thoughts, still searching. “Last night at the fireworks Rose met this dude and he was totally flirting with her but now she hasn’t seen him since and we’ve got to find him or else the world is over.”  
“It's not that serious.” It is the only thing I have thought about for almost 24 hours now.  
“It is!” Lacey says. “He is cute, talented, and seems very nice and you are also all of those things as. It's a perfect match and you are going to find him again and ten years from now you will get married and I will be the maid of honor.”  
“Nobody ever talks to anyone after camp ends,” Anna cut in.  
Everyone at the table ignores her. There are three days left, and nobody wants to be reminded of reality.  
“What was his name again?” Lacey continued to press on the topic. “Maybe we can ask someone if they know him.”  
“I have no idea,” I admit.  
Lacey whips around. “Did he not say?”  
“Maybe? I don’t remember.”  
“Rose!”  
“Ok, how about this? I go walk over to the bathroom that’s over there, and I will glance around and see if he is anywhere, and if he isn’t, we can just take it as a sign that it was not meant to go any further than a nice talk one night. If he is somewhere, I will figure it out from there.”  
“I thought you didn’t do ‘figure it out from there?’’ Lacey says, and she’s completely right. But I’m already out of my seat and I walk away without replying.  
I walk to the bathroom as slowly as I can without it being suspicious. My eyes dart across each table of boys, looking for his distinct dark swoop of hair. I’m so focused I almost run into someone. I mumble sorry and walk into the bathroom hallway. I didn’t see him.  
I sit down at the table, shoulders slumping. The whole table is looking at me besides Kate, who is very much against boys.  
“Nothing,” I say. I wanted to sound indifferent but you can hear the defeat in my voice.  
“It’s okay,” Lacey says. “It’s not over yet.”  
It feels pretty over to me. But it's all my own fault anyways, because if I had remembered his name I would be able to ask around about him. Now I was left with nothing besides the main thing I could remember about him: his eyebrows.   
Lacey keeps looking through the masses of people in blue polos as we leave the dining hall, but I keep my head down. If I saw him, would he even recognize me?  
“Rose!”  
I turn to my name by instinct. And there he is. Eyebrows. Lacey’s face was like a child on Christmas morning, or rather a teen on Scriptmas evening.  
“Hi.” My voice cracks as he walks up, nerves crashing over me. Did he even see my face last night? What if right now he realizes I’m extremely unattractive?  
“Hi.” The approaching sunset makes his pale skin look golden and his brown eyes dance. His chiseled face and harsh eyebrows look softer up close, less like a Victorian painting and more like a clay model I want to touch. He’s breathtaking.  
Shit, it's my turn to say something. “I almost thought you were a dream last night.”  
Heat rises on my face for saying something so stupid, but luckily he flushes a little bit, too. “Yeah, almost. But I thought I saw you this morning at breakfast.”  
I used every ounce of my will to not slap myself right then and there, with him right in front of me. “Really?”  
“Well, it was less I saw you and more I asked around,” He admitted, his cheeks flushing again. “But to be honest, I was scared to go up to you. You should know that you have some intimidating eyebrows.”  
“You’re one to talk!” I reply, and we both laugh.  
The crowds of people moving out of the dining hall are starting to slow down, leaving us more alone. It makes my palms sweat a little. I look at his name tag. It’s yellow, and says NOLAN in all caps with wobbly handwriting. It’s a nice name.  
“Why now, then?” I ask.  
“I saw you walking ahead as I left the dining hall, obviously. I was still scared. I am still scared, right now,” He says, rubbing the back of his neck and looking away. He quickly continues, “But I was thinking, camp is almost over, and life is so short, and you just-”  
He stops for a moment, and licks his lips. He does it quickly but it’s enough to make me glance at his lips. I force myself to look him in the eyes. The rims of his iris is glowing golden as the sun sinks deeper.  
“You looked so pretty in the sunset I had to talk to you one more time,” He says, so soft it almost doesn’t come out.  
Before I was scared to look him in the eyes, but now I can’t look away. “You look pretty, too.”  
“Hey! Nolan! No girls!” A counselor standing over farther down the path to the boy’s units shouts at us. “Get back to your unit, ma’am!”  
“Meet me at main camp tonight at midnight,” He says quickly, walking towards the counselor.  
“I don’t have a watch!” I call after him.  
“Then I’ll come pick you up! Just don’t fall asleep!”  
Ok.   
Wait.   
What?

“Rose!” Lacey groans.  
“Yeah, I know, it was awful. I can’t help that I’m awkward, okay?” I glance around, making sure all the counselors are out of earshot. “But then right as his counselor started yelling at him, he told me to meet him at main camp at midnight.”  
Lacey eyes widen. “What did you say?”  
“I said I don’t have a watch.”  
She almost trips over a stump in her exasperation. “Rose!”  
“He just said he would come pick me up after that and walked away!” I whisper in a panic. “I have no idea what’s going on. What do I do?”  
The counselors make us all fall silent, like we always do right before we enter the concert shell. We enter in a single-file line, dressed in our formals.  
I can tell Lacey is thinking while we walk past our unit director, who directs us to our seats. “Do you want to meet up with him?”  
I don’t have to think for even a second. “Yes.”  
“You’re gonna have one late night,” Lacey says, but she’s smiling.  
The boys walk into the left side of the seats, and I look around to find Nolan. He smiles as soon as our eyes meet. He ends up sitting a row behind mine, far enough over so if I turn my head I can see him. We play a bit of rock-paper-scissors before the concert begins.  
It’s an orchestra tonight, the kind that always puts me asleep. I don’t want to stare at him the whole time, but his face is definitely more interesting. I let myself glance over at him.  
He notices my looking and grins. He puts his fingers up to his face, right next to those imposing eyebrows. He taps the left side of his face, and the left eyebrow quirks up, moving in a wave to the right eyebrow, over the other finger that catches the imaginary energy. I cover my mouth but I know my eyes show my laughter because he leans back into his chair with a satisfied smile.  
I try not to look at him during the concert, but everytime I do, he’s already looking at me. We share smiles before looking away. I look at him one last time at the very end of the concert. Just before I turn away, Nolan winks at me. I practically skip back to the unit.  
I sit in my bed with my eyes open. I cannot fall asleep. I don’t think I could if I wanted to, even. My face would just be filled with him winking at me on repeat. Do guys even wink at girls anymore? Was that even a thing in the first place?  
It should be. My heart is still palpitating.  
For once, I’m grateful for Jaylen’s watch, beeping hourly. Lights out was sometime past 10, which means there are only two beeps left before he’s supposed to “pick me up.”

The second beep comes quicker than I was expecting. I anxiously scanned the unit, but all six cabins were dark and lifeless. I decide to walk out the door as nonchalantly as I can in case somebody in the cabin is awake. The lampost in the center of the unit feels like a spotlight as I briskly cross the UD Hut. Nolan is standing at the edge of the path to main camp.  
“What are you so scared for?” He asks as I dash across the road to him. He’s wearing pajama pants and a grey tank top. His arms are toned. I feel almost foolish with my tye dye t-shirt and sweatshorts.  
“Shouldn’t there be somebody out her making sure kids don’t get out of bed? Like Filch from Harry Potter?” I’m scared to speak any louder than a whisper.  
“Why would they need one of those? What bad could a couple hundred horny band nerds get up to?” We laugh, and he continues, “I haven’t seen one yet. Even the all-knowing Joshua has to sleep sometimes. But maybe he sends out a bloodhound or something.”  
I try to insist we walk in silence as we pass Forza, because I can’t imagine the horror of Amy walking out of her cabin to see me sneaking around with a boy, but when we reach the Jazz Bowl Nolan sprints ahead of me and leaps onto the stage.  
“You like jazz?” I muse.  
“Love it,” He says, twirling around. “A good solo can really change your life.”  
“I just never got into it,” I say, joining him on the stage. Nolan grabs my hands; we start dancing somewhere between swing and a waltz.   
“No? But the drumset is probably the coolest instrument out there!”  
“In middle school the jazz band had so many boys I just quit,” I admit. It seems stupid now.  
“It's not too late to try again,” Nolan says, spinning me away from him.  
I make a psh sound. “I’ve seen the drummers at this place. There’s no way I could ever catch up.”  
“Not with that attitude, you won’t.” He twirls me straight into his arms. “I think you’d be killer.”  
He tells me about when he went to first live jazz performance as we dance around, and then we sit down at the edge of the stage and tell each other all about our lives at home. He has two older brothers and a corgi dog named Murphy. His best friend is named Sam and they play basketball together in his alley. I tell him about my arguing family and Katie, who’s my real family, along with all my other friends. Sitting there next to him, his hand just barely touching mine, it doesn’t feel scary anymore. It feels right, like it did when we were watching fireworks.   
“You wanna go to main camp?” He asks, jumping off the stage.  
“And die tripping on a stump on the way there?” I say, not moving. The path is known across campus for its countless stumps that many a camper has fallen victim to. It’s a far way down for a short girl.  
Nolan holds out his arms and I jump into them like I’ve done it a million times before. His arms fit around me naturally.   
“I’m not scared of a challenge,” He says, gently putting me back on my own feet.  
I hold out my hand to him. “Go down together?”  
He takes it eagerly. “Ride or die, baby.”  
Both of us know the path well enough that we avoid most of the stumps, but he trips over one right at the end and pulls me down with him. I think he does it on purpose because I land right on top of him, face to face. His dark eyes search mine and every part of my body that’s touching his alive.  
“My bad,” He says, playfully shoving me off of him before helping me back up.  
An eerie feeling settles in my stomach seeing the band stand and all the picnic tables before it empty.   
“Where to, m’lady? Concert Shell? Waterfront? Tuba Shed?” His eyebrows quirk up mischievously at the last location. The tuba shed is known to be the site of many summer camp hookups.  
“I’ve seen that last one quite a bit, actually,” I reply, not giving in.  
“Waterfront it is,” Nolan says, his upbeat and slightly horny mood undeterred. It seems like he knows something I don’t.  
We turn down the main path when I see it: a quick yellow flash, no bigger than a bug. Or rather, a lightning bug. I let out a little gasp. Nolan beams, and it's almost brighter than the moon above us.  
“Whoever catches one first wins. One-two-three-go!” He says, running down to the beach.  
“Hey, unfair!” I call after him as I follow.  
The entire beach dances with fireflies and the lovely little blue lake glitters with starlight, with Selene smiling down at her own full reflection. I can hardly believe that it's prettier at night. I stare long enough that Nolan strolls up next to me, our arms brushing.  
“It’s gorgeous,” I breathe.  
“Just like you,” He replies softly.  
I grin, leaning against him. “Smooth.”  
“What can I say, I’m a natural,” He says. He reveals his cupped hands. “Just like I am at firefly catching.”  
He opens his palms to reveal a firefly. Nolan smiles at it like a proud father. “His name is Emmett.”  
“Adorable,” I say, meaning it more ways than one. His blush looks silver in the moonlight. Emmett crawls up to Nolan’s wrist before turning around. Nolan extends his fingers, a ready runway. Emmett goes to the tip of his pointer finger and takes flight.  
“Goodbye,” Nolan says. Then it's just the two of us, standing close to each other. My eyes go up from his empty hand to his lips. We stand silently. I can hear my heartbeat. I wonder if it matches his.  
“My turn,” I declare, tearing myself away from him. I chase after a firefly that dodges my cupped hands easily. We zigzag opposite of each other before he decides to just fly higher than I can reach.  
“Need help?” Nolan asks, amused at how I’m being bested by my height.  
“No!” I cry as I leap up, but the firefly just goes higher.  
“Come here,” Nolan says. He crouches down and motions for me to climb on his shoulders. I hesitantly oblige.  
“Oh my god,” I gasp as he stands up, raising me well above six feet tall.   
“You’re not coming down until you catch something,” Nolan insists, hands firmly planted on my legs.   
I try to reach for things, but when Nolan takes a step to help me get closer I get scared and grab his face. Each time I feel him grin. Finally I have some luck and catch one. Nolan manages to get me off of his shoulders without making me have to let go of my new friend.  
“Name?” Nolan asks once my feet are back on the ground.  
“Harry,” I say, inspecting the small creature. I can feel Nolan’s eyes on my face.  
“Like Harry Potter?”  
“Exactly.”  
“So you like magic?”  
I look up at him, and as I suspected, his eyes are dancing around again. “Is this another pick-up line?”  
“Maybe.”  
Harry flies away. Nolan takes a step closer to me. The fireflies around us have synced together, flashing in time.  
“Are you ready?” Nolan murmurs, his voice husky.  
I take a step closer. “Whenever you are.”  
“Speed round! Whoever can catch the most fireflies in the next minute wins!” He dashes away from me while my heartstrings are still taught.   
He runs wild around trees and up hills, even jumping over the ping pong table. I take a more cautious approach and manage to catch three before he yells “Time!”  
We walk up to each other wearing our best poker faces.   
“Ladies first,” He says in a gentleman-like voice.  
I open my hands to reveal my trio. “Jerry, William, and Patricia.”  
Nolan raises his eyebrows, the corners of his mouth pulling upwards despite his best efforts to remain serious. He opens his hands. An impossible amount of fireflies pour out, taking off in every direction. My mouth opens in awe.  
Once they’ve all dispersed, I concede, “You win. That’s amazing.”  
“You’re amazing,” Nolan says instantly. He shakes his head, embarrassed. “Sorry, I should stop. They just keep coming out.”  
“Yeah,” I agree, but I’m blushing anyways.   
“But I mean it.” I look up to meet his gaze. We’re standing so close that his eyes don’t reflect anything. They’re a black abyss, and I want to fall in. “I don’t think I’ve felt this way about someone before. Which is crazy, because I’ve known you for about twenty four hours, but it feels like I know you so well.”  
“Summer camp is crazy like that,” I agree, my mind wandering to Lacey for a moment. But Nolan closes the space between us and then all of my attention is on him. “We should probably go to bed.”  
“Yeah,” He whispers, his breath against my face. It smells like honey. I pull his face closer to mine. His hands cradle my face. I look at his eyes one last time before falling into him.  
His lips are clouds, his hands run down my hair like rain, and his body against mine feels more electric than lightning. Our bodies are like puzzle pieces made to fit together.   
We break apart. “Do you think we should go back to our cabins?” He asks, his voice a little hoarse.   
“Yeah,” I say, running my fingers along the features of his face. “But I don’t want to.”  
So we didn’t.


End file.
